The Classic Car Show - 23rd April 2015 - Channel 5

Tonight's episode begins with Quentin Wilson's article about the Jensen Interceptor. Jensen's were rakish and quick, the 60's fibre glass bodied CV8 was one of the fastest accelerating four seater cars in the world, but it was not a pretty car. In 1966, Jensen asked the Italian styling house Vignale to design a new body, and what a body it was. The new £3,700 Jensen was a hit, the TV and music industry were queuing to be seen behind the wheel of one. Jensen had become the car of the rich and famous. All of this free publicity was great as Jensen were broke, the FF may have been the worlds first four wheel drive production car, it may have been the first car with anti lock brakes and it was car of the year in 1966 but the problem was it cost the same as three terraced houses. So by 1969, Jensen were insolvent and loosing £40,000 a month. Choosing to ignore these financial difficulties coupled with an international oil crisis, Jensen must have been wandering around with their heads in the sand as they kept building new models.

There was the Jensen Healey, a replacement for the Austin Healey, dogged with reliability issues and two more Interceptor models. One of these was rather special. The 1973 Jensen SP.

This car came with a 7.2 litre Chrysler V8 fed by 3 big twin shaped carburettors that meant if you enjoyed driving quickly, you could empty the petrol tank in under 1 hour. 145mph was the top speed with a 0-60 time of 5.7 seconds. Good car or not the timing was wrong, nobody wanted to buy a monster 7 litre V8 during a fuel crisis. Shortly after the SP was launched, Jensen sacked 400 of it's staff and things carried on getting worse. In 1975 Jensen called in the receivers and Jensen closed it doors. This however is not the end, in the early 80's Jensen had the first of many rebirths and the Mk 4 was released. For the next twenty years, Jensen kept bouncing back. As soon as the receivers had closed it down there was another rebirth. But why does this car refuse to grow old gracefully. There are three reasons, the way it looks, the way it drives and its image of being a dark car. Given the Inteceptor has a big V8 engine, you get plenty of noise and torque. You want to accelerate just to hear the engine note. It's light, easy to drive and practical. It if any wonder then that this cars value is rising.

Next up is Will Best driving old and new Fiat 500's to see which is best. Launched in 1957 this car was a huge hit and over the next 18 years, 3 million would be made. It's thought that a nearly a third of these are still in the road. The car small, 9ft long from end to end and is perfect for driving the backstreets of Rome which is what is was designed for.

On the negative side, the clutch is heavy,  the gear change is jerky and the brakes aren't that good. It's easy to see why the car was a big success. Simple design, great looks and fairly easy to drive. Getting into the new Fiat 500 Will discovers that it feels much more spacoius and but its only half a metre longer in congested traffic it's more comfortable, the gear change and the clutch are lighter, the brakes are responsive but as does not feel as nippy as the old one. The new Fiat 500 was launched in 2007 as a rival to the relaunched Beetle and Mini. This one though has stayed the truest to its original design. It would seem that the Great British public prefer the older one based on its looks. Interestingly, Will best does not voice his opinion on which he prefers do I invite Will to confirm which of the two he preferred and why.

Jodie then shows us some classic car adverts from the 1930's.?The first advert is a chap sat on/in a car driving sound a congested London. When the car gathers speed it does look rickety at best. Next up is a car that is 15 times bigger than the average road going car. Next we have a car that looks like it's walking again from the 1930's.!This is followed by an advert for the Dymaxion car. This car could carry 11 people, had a V8 engine and could do 100mph. All this on 3 wheels. Not bad for 1933. 

Next up, Alex Riley meets a man with a huge classic car collection. The 190 car collection is owned by Roger Dudding, the man that gave us the deli counter ticket machine. Instead of keeping these cars locked away, never to be seen, Roger hires them out so that they help pay for themselves. The maintenance cost for this collection is around 1million pounds per year. Some of the cars he has include 18 wedge shaped Lagonda's, a Jensen CV8, a Ferrari Dino,  3 Aston Martin DBR2's, a Triumph Stag, a Lancia Beta Coupe, a Karman Ghia Coupe and over 100 more. This really is a staggering collection and needs to seen to be believed for more information on this please go to www.studio434.co.uk

Next up Bruno Senna drives a classic car around the Brooklands handling track. Today is the turn of the a 1970 Porcshe 911 ST. This was the ultimate road legal competition car of the early 1970's. It's legendary 2.3 litre air cooled engine delivered 230bhp to the widend rear tyres. This car has a top speed of 150mph and a 0-60 of 4.5 seconds. The 1970 ST won the Monte Carlo rally and raced at Sebring, Daytona and Le Mans. On the track the ST looks planted. At the half way point the ST is a quarter of a second down from Ferrari 308. Driving around the rest of the track with no dramas and looking great, the ST finishes seven tenths of a second slower than the 308. 

Next up, Quentin Wilson looks at some cars that are going up in value. First up we have the Porsche 968 Club Sport. Top speed 160mph and 0-60 in a little over 6 seconds. Five years ago one of these cost £10,000, now a good one will cost £30,000. Next up is the Maserati Quattroporte 3. Top speed 130mph, 0-60 in 12 seconds was delivered from a 4.9 litre V8. Currently prices are around £10,000 but prices are going up. Only 2000 of these were made so now is the time to get one. Lastly is the Jaguar XJ6 Series 3. Top speed 125mph, 0-60 in 9 seconds from a 4.2 litre engine with an automatic gearbox. Pininfarina restyled the XJ6 and it is a stunning car. Prices are around £5,000 but will go up.

Lastly Jodie Kidd drives a Chevrolet Camaro on Route 66. In 1965 Chevrolet were wounded by Ford when they released the Mustang. Out for revenge, Chevrolet made the Camaro, named after a small vicious animal that eats Mustangs. This car was built for one reason, for revenge on the Ford Mustang.

In 1965, the Ford Mustang was the car to own, bringing muscle car performance to the masses and selling over half a million cars in 1965 alone. Chevrolet had to react and they did and they did at great speed and a year later the Camaro was born. Initially the Camaro came as an RS or an SS until 1967 when the Z28 was introduced for the Trans Am race series. Of the 100,000 of the Camaro's made that year, only 602 came with the white striped Z28 bonnet. The Camaro's power came from a 4.9 litre V8 producing 290bhp that took it to 140mph. The noise of the engine is amazing and the car looks good at 50 years old. Jodie then makes a great point: "without revenge you would not have the Ford GT, Lamborghini would not exsist and if everyone simply forgave and forgot we would have no Camaro". Ironically the Ford Mustang was the best thing to happen to Chevrolet. This has been a great episode and has been a great finale as next weeks episode is the highlights of the series. For me there have been many so it will be interesting to see what they choose. The Camaro film go me has been one of the best of the series so I hope to see it mentioned next week. Great episode, please watch it on:

http://www.channel5.com/shows/the-classic-car-show

After having the interview with Jack Burnford, the shows director, I would love to interview the the shows hosts Quentin Wilson and Jodie Kidd along with Alex Riley, Bruno Senna, Will Best and Chris Routledge to be interviewed about their experiences on the show.

BTTC at Donnington Park 19th April 2015

I won two hospitality tickets to the BTCC at Donnington Park courtesy of the Renault Clio Cup Championship. I also won a Renault Sport Jacket and a paddock tour.

The day arrived and at 5am it was time to get up and drive the 166 miles to Donnington Park. With my dad as my companion and navigator for the day we set off. We arrive in good time, park and find the Clio Cup Race Centre, check in and have some breakfast. Once finished we have a wonder around the paddock and take some photos. I love a busy paddock as there is so much going on.

It's then time to watch some racing, after a lot of map reading we have a look at one possibility. 

It's initially we decide on an area near Redgate corner but the big fence obstructs the view of the track. After spying the infield where you can see Hollywood corner, the Craner Curves, the Old Hairpin and up to Macleans we take our place. The weather is overcast, with everything being so open, the wind really does make things cold. Soon we hear the engines starting and the first cars make their way around the track to the grid. The first race of the day is the Renault Clio Cup. These are based on the road going Clio's but more will be learned about these cars later. 

The race begins and the cars on the opening laps are packed together. We were treated to some really good close racing. After one of the closest battles in the championship's history Ash Hand took the chequered flag, winning his first race of his career.

Next up is the Formula MSA - Certified  by FIA Powered by Ford Eco Boost Championship. These are single seater racing cars that have a Mygale FIA F4 Monocoque chassis powered by Ford's Eco Boost engine. This is a 1.6 litre engine that is tuned to produce 160BHP. This will carry on the traditions of Formula Ford allowing juniors to race. This again is a very close and hard fought race Matheus Leist emerged the winner.

Time for a cup of tea before the BTCC cars race. As we take our place once more the parade lap begins. Time to race, Jason Plato storms past Gordon Shedden and Colin Turkington to take the lead after the first lap and remained there to take his first win of the year.

After this we walk back through the paddock and see Jason Plato take his trophy for winning the race.

While the Ginetta's take to the track we arrive at the Clio Cup Race Centre to get warm and have some lunch. When we arrive we sit down near a large TV to watch the Ginetta's race and we ate lunch. I had Swordfish with green beans, potatoes and couscous while my dad had Lamb Tagine with the same sides. The Ginetta race is won by Carl Breeze. Once lunch is finished I introduce myself to Pauline Hillon, the Co-Ordinator for the Clio Cup. We have a quick chat and she asks how far we have travelled and what we think. After our chat, Pauline sets off making sure that the race centre is clean and tidy and making sure that everyone is ok. We meet Carl McKellar who is taking us on the paddock tour. He gives us a quick talk and tells us that we are going to have a talk from WDE Motorsport and we will meet Clio Cup driver Paul Rivetts. I have a quick chat with Carl as he leads us to the WDE Motorsport paddock area. We arrive and we are ushered in to a tight little area with two Clio's that are ready to race later on in the day. Paul introduces himself and tells us that he has raced in the Clio Cup Championship for ten years and has won the championship three times. He is very passionate about the team and the racing as are the rest of the team. Paul then goes on to tell us about the cars. The Clio Cup cars have a standard body shell and the factory 1.6 litre turbo engine.

This is where the road car similarities end. They install racing suspension, steering, exhaust, brakes and gearbox. The Clio Cup cars also have a limited slip differential that can be adjusted. You have 12 springs you can remove in pairs but you must have 6 springs as a minimum depending on the setup of the car. They are able to change the camber settings to get the best out of the car. Paul then goes on to talk about the hours involved especially if something goes wrong. They are able to get most spares to where they are fairly quickly and then do what is needed to get the car running and ready to race. After the race, all of the team know what checks will need doing and they set about their work quickly. We then see some on board footage from Paul's car. It's amazing to see from a drivers view just how close you can race and not take your opponent's off the track. Originally, Paul finished in fourth place but due to a new rule, 3rd place driver Ashley Sutton was given a 5 second penalty for exceeding track limits so Paul took third place. Paul then explains that both he and the team race because they love racing, and not to make vast sums of money. They are paid but the hours they work are often long  and hard. Paul comes across as a hugely like-able person and is very committed to racing at a very high standard. As we leave I thank Paul for his time. 

My dad and I make our way back to our spot on the infield for the Ginetta Juniors race. The race is underway and the sun comes out. This again provides some close racing with lots of action. This was won by Jonathan Hadfield.

It's then time for the second race for the BTCC. Colin Turkington passed pole man Gordon Shedden on the opening lap, this brought on a battle between the two until Turkington pulled away to win. The battle for second place was very entertaining with Matt Neal taking it.

The final race we would watch today is the final Clio Cup race. We were cheering on Paul Rivetts as he battled for fourth place but this battle would be won by Ash Hand. The winner of the race was Ant Whorton-Eales. 

With that race over we decided now would be the best time to head for home, we will watch the remaining races at home. 

I would highly recommend going to one of these meetings, especially if you are not a racing fan. These drivers, teams and staff really work hard to bring you the highest standard of racing in the UK. 

I once again extend my thanks to Pauline Hillon, Carl McKellar, Paul Rivetts and WDE Motorsport for making us feel welcome and giving us their time.

The Classic Car Show - 16th April 2015 - Channel 5

Tonight's episode begins with QuentinWilsons article about the Ferrari Testarossa. This car summed up the decade that was the 1980's. The cars designer, Sergio Pinninfarina called the Testarossa an exercise in flamboyance and it was never welcomed by the credit card carrying Ferrari inner circle like a Daytona or a 365 and prices plummeted. Nobody wanted them as they were too vulgar. What people forget is that the Testarossa is one of Ferrari's most successful cars selling 7,000 units. In 1984 the list price was £63,000, the equivalent now is £200,000 and there was a year waiting list. This was the first Ferrari that could be sold to a worldwide market due to emissions and safety features. This explains the number of cars sold and Ferrari made it easy to drive. The Testarossa can reach 185mph with a 0-60 time of 5 seconds. Going back to the remark about being too vulgar, the Testarossa is a very subtle car.  The bonnet is low but has nothing vulgar and looks plain in comparison to a Bugatti Veyron and the side vents that people disliked actually channeled air to the two radiators in the back of the car.

The Testarossa summed up the 1980's and that was its greatest success.

The Testarossa is the original modern supercar, aluminium bodied, reliable and a minimum amount of electrics that can go wrong. Up to that point, Ferrari's, Maseratti's and Lamborghini's were unreliable hard riding cars that demanded a lot from the driver and passenger, but the Testarossa is a smooth driving car with a big cockpit. You can buy one of these for £75,000 but prices will go up.

Next up is Jodie Kidd meets David Gandy as he picks up his first classic car.

David is a male supermodel. He shot to fame after winning a TV modelling contest in 2001 and is the face of Dolce & Gabanna. He has had the car fully restored by Hilton & Moss. The car is a 1960 Mercedes 190SL. After 2,000 hours of restoration, the 190SL looks incredible. After a year of decsision making David takes the wheel and gets used to his new classic. Driving around the roads both the car, driver and passenger look great.

Next up is Chris Routledge with his barn finds article. Today Chris has had a tip off about s very rare car in a garage. The car is an Owen Sedanca. This car was built in the 1970's super coupe and it was based on the Jaguar. The Owen Sedanxa was launched at a star studded party in 1973 but it never went into production. There was only ever a pre production prototype. It was a very innovative car. The rearing the car has elements of the Lamborghini Espada while the front end looks like a Lotus Esprit. The wheels are Wolfrace Slot magnesium alloy wheels. These wheels alone cost a small fortune in the 70's so you can tell that a good amount of money was put into this car. The interior is all original and is in good condition. If restored, the car could be worth £100,000. 

Next up, Alex Riley goes to visit a car obsessed family. The Prinn family from Southampton have gathered a collection of 33 Austin's in all conditions. They began with one in 1997 and most spare room including the garden is taken up with Austins. They sell parts to people that are looking to buy them. There are spare parts everywhere in a big garage. Alex is taken to another garage where Matthew Prinns car is kept. Mr Beans Mini. Matthew owns one of the original Minis from the series as he loves classic cars. Matthew takes Alex for a drive and they talk about the family dynamic and Matthew's love of classic cars.

Next up is Bruno Senna driving a classic car around the Brooklands handling track. Today Bruno is driving a Ferrari 308 Michelotto Rally Spec. This car took on Audi, Opel and Porsche on the international rally scene and won in the Targa Florio, Tour De France and Mont Blanc rallies. This 308 has a 3 litre V8 engine that produced 320bhp with a lightweight Pinninfarina body that can go from 0-60 in 4 seconds and a top speed of 140mph. This car looks seriously quick and low. Flying around the corners the car could be on rails. At the halfway point, the 308 is half a second quicker than the E-Type. By the end, the lead has extended to 8 tenths of a second completing the lap in 47:404.

Next up is Jodie Kidd driving a Jaguar XJ220. Revealed at the London Motor Show in 1988, it stole all of the headlines.

People queued to put a £50,000 deposit on a car that promised a 220mph top speed. This came from a V12 engine that produced 500bhp with four wheel drive. 

But four years after that launch, Black Wednesday shattered the global market and Jaguar delivered the car that dos not live up to it's promise. By the time the car was finished due to design and financial constraints, the V12 engine became a V6, four wheel drive became rear wheel drive and the price tag went from £360,000 to £400,000. That's £750,000 in today's money. Customers were furious and demanded their deposits back from Jaguar making this car Jaguar's biggest commercial failure. This is a shame because it looks like a good drive. There's not much roll in the corners, there is not a lot of under steer or over steer and it is very powerful. There are s couple of problems, the car is very low to the road and it's very wide so not great on country lanes where bumpy narrow road are the norm. In 1993, Jaguar entered the race version of the XJ220 in the GT class at Le Mans. It won easily but was then disqualified due to a technicality and it's racing career was over. Due to a committed band of followers, several recreations of the race version still exist, and thanks to a father and son team Justin and Don Law, Jodie will be racing one of these at the Silverstone Classic in the 90's Legends GT race. The car Jodie is racing is similar to the road car bar the big rear wing. The engine is a 3.5 litre V6 twin turbo that produces an amazing 700bhp. 0-60 in 2.5 seconds with a top speed of 235mph. In Jodie's race there are two Dodge Vipers, 5 McLaren F1's, Porsches and Marcos to name a few. Jodie then suits up and gets ready to race. She gets in with Justin Law but there is s problem. The car won't start. With the warm up lap underway, they swap into another XJ220 and make it just in time to the back of the field. With the race underway. Jodie is giving full concentration Justin has to remind Jodie she is presenting an article. As quick as the race began, it finished.

This was a good episode but for me, Jodue Kidd's article with David Gandy was the worst article. There was not a lot of information about the car e.g. How much he paid for the car or where he bought the car. To me this looked like an exercise in beauty, beautiful car (190SL), beautiful man (David Gandy), beautiful host (Jodie Kidd) driving around some beautiful roads. I like to have information and this just did not deliver for me. Good show otherwise.

The Classic Car Show 9th April 2015 Channel 5

Tonight's show is a James Bond Special and begins with Quentin Wilson's article about the Aston Martin DB5. This car became the most famous car in the world after only a combined screen time of 13 minutes during Goldfinger and Thunderball. This was also the most successful example of product placement. When launched in 1963, it cost £4,000. This could have bought you two E-Type Jaguars. The E-Type was faster, more advanced and nicer to drive. The DB5 was a rebodied DB4 that weighed a tonne and a half that came with a 4 litre straight six engine that goes from 0-60 in 8 seconds and has a top speed of 143mph. The gearbox is said to be delicate with a heavy clutch. The interior of the DB5 is stunning. This reminds me a lot of the DB4 I drove. This car quite simply was made to be driven on the open road. 

So how did the DB5 become anicon? Aston Martin intitally refused to lend Eon Productions a car because in the past they came back damaged. Ken Adams, the production designer  and John Sears the special effects supervisor really wanted a DB5, so they went to the manager of Aston Martin and convinced him that a product placement deal would be a good idea and he relented. The car left the factory as a normal Aston Martin but once at Pinewood Studios, that all changed. In six weeks however that all changed. It was from red to birch silver, it was fitted with all of the gadgets such as the ejector seat, the revolving number plate, the Browning machine guns, the bullet proof screen to name a few. The bill for all of this was £45,000 and the producer Harry Saltzman said that this car was not to be used in high speed chases so another DB5 was bought from Aston Martin. This would be a quicker DB5 and used for the high speed sequences. Another two DB5's followed for the promotional US tour. The original Bond DB5 was sold to a private collector in Florida in 1969. In 1997 the car was stolen from a hangar an Boca Raton and it has never been found.

Next up is Will Best takes a look at the Bond in Motion exhibition at The London Film Museum. This is a 50th celebration of all things James Bond with a vast array of vehicles and props from the films. I have been to the one at Beauliea I will add the photos I took as Will has a wonder around and picks some choice vehicles to show us. We have:

Bond's DB5

Goldfinger's Rolls Royce

The Lotus from The Spy Who Loved Me

Some of the light aircraft used.

The trike used by James Bond

Some of the American cars used

And finally

If you do get a chance to see this exhibition it is well worth it as you can get up close to all of this and much more.

Next is Alex Riley driving a classic you can buy for under £5,000. As this episode is a James Bond special the car is a car that has been driven by the super spy. Today Alex is driving a Triumph Stag. Sean Conney drove this car in Diamonds Are Forever while on his way to Dover to meet Miss Moneypenny. The Triumph Stag's story begins in 1964 when designer Giovanni Michelotti persuaded Triumph's Harry Webster to give him a Triumph 2000 saloon on which he could do something special to show off his skills. Once Webster had seen what Michelotti was able to do he orderd full scald development of the car. This car was set to be a winner but in true British Leyland style things went wrong. The Stag had a new 3 litre V8 engine, it was modern, compact and powerful but they manufactured badly and used cost cutting methods, its reliability was dreadful. Timing chans broke, cylinder heads corroded and water pumps failed. Overheating soon became the bane of Stag owners lives. With a bad reputation, sales never took off, so in 1977, the Stag was withdrawn. 

Next we have Ben Collins driving the inspiration behind the Bond car the Aston Martin DB2/4. Ben Collins has been the stunt driver for the last two James Bond films. Turning to the car, the DB2/4, launched in 1953 as the worlds first Hatchback, this is the car that inspired Ian Fleming to swap Bond's allegiance from Bentley to Aston Martin in the Goldfinger novel. Looking at the DB2/4 you can see how Fleming was inspired to create the car for Bond's use as a spy. The reinforced bumpers are ideal for smashing other cars out of your way. On the inside there are also some familiarise. Mounted into the dashboard is a two way radio and a taco device used by rally drivers that would become a homing device. Between the seats there is a pull up panel and hidden beneath it you could put some gadget in. Pull the outer shell of this to reveal a place that a gun could be stored. All of this was standard with the DB2/4. This car is a classic GT car best on the open road, the engine in a Lagonda Straight Six it goes from 0-60 in 12 seconds and has a top speed of 120mph. Once up to speed, the Aston is luxurious and sedate, the handling is not good and the breaking is best taken slowly. There are no seat belts so trying to use this for a car chase is not a good idea. So how did Ian Fleming find this car? This car was owned by a man called Squdron Leader Phillip Ingram Cunliffe-Lister. It's this man that modified the Aston and put all of the gadgets in the car so that he could take it on international rallies. It's belived that this man was good friends with Ian Fleming's next door neighbour and that Fleming went to their house and saw the Aston with all of the modifications during the time he was planning Goldfinger. The reason Bond had a DB3 in Goldfinger is that Fleming wanted Bond to have the latest kit from his shoes to his car and his gun. Everything had to be accurate and cutting edge. The DB2/4 was at the end of it's time and was replaced by the MK3, three being in Roman numerals. Here is where Fleming made an uncharacteristic mistake because in Goldfinger he called the car a DB3 again in Roman numerals when it should have read MK3.

Next up is Bruno Senna driving a classic around the handling track. Today Bruno is driving the Aston Martin DB3. Introduced in 1951, the DB3 was built purely for racing. It was powered by a 2.9 litre Lagonda Straight 6 engine giving the car 163BHP. This car took on C-Type Jaguars and Ferrari 340 Americas at Le Mans and Sebring. It's finest moment was winning the Goodwood 9 hours in August 1952 driven by Peter Collins and Pat Griffith. On track the DB3 looks and sounds great. At the halfway point the DB3 is just over a second behind the E-Type. By the end of the lap the DB3 2.7 seconds down completing the lap in 51:026 seconds. That's s great time for a car of this age. That puts the DB3 3rd fastest behind the E-Type and the Healey

Next up, Jodie Kidd looks at some classic car adverts. We havePeugeot 205. The 205 is made to look like the it should be in James Bond. It gets shot out of its parachute mid air and survives the attempt to try to blow it up.

Lastly Jodie Kidd drives the James Bond Lotus Esprit. Ths car was in production for over 28 years. This is the longest production car that Lotus have made. In 1970, Colin Chapman realised he needed a car that looked like a Ferrari or Lamborghini. So he called Giorgetto Guigiaro, the man responsible for the DeLorean, the Maseratti's Ghibli and the BMW M1. Guigiaro's design and Chapmans engineering skills made a sports car dream team. The way the world heard about the Esprit was brilliant too. PR guru Don McLauchlan parked a pre production Esprit outside of James Bond Producer Cubby Broccoli's office and the rest was history. A generation of car lovers had a new car to fall in love with. It's not just this cars looks that are good, this cars handling is legendary, Chapman engineered a super lightweight body with a two litre four cylinder engine giving it a 0-60 time of 8.4 seconds and a top speed of 133mph. During the 28 years of production, the Esprit changed, in came posher interiors, spoilers and turbochargers diluting Chapmans vision. 

This has been an insightful episode, being a fan of the James Bond series, I have learned a lot about the cars and Ian Fleming. Alex Riley States the good points about the Triumph Stag but should also give more reasons as to why these cars are £5,000. 

MSC Importers Ltd

MSC Importers is a company based near Andover in Hampshire that specialise in supplying classic cars for collectors and enthusiasts. They are a leading importer of Mk1 and Mk2 Ford Escorts.

The company was set up by Rob Jones in 1995. Rob's working life began at a Ford Dealership as an apprentice. Rob has since owned and worked on many desirable cars.

So what can a customer going to MSC Imports expect?

Firstly, as the name implies, MSC Imports will advise and buy the car you want and ship it to the UK. 

As Rob also owns a garage, the Multi Service Centre. They have all the facilities you would expect to find to perform services and MOT's. The mechanics are friendly and knowledgeable. They also have spare parts and accessories.

For more information including a current list of cars that MSC Imports is offering, or any other information, please visit http://mscimporters.co.uk

Below are some of the cars that are offered by MSC Imports

If rallying is something you do, they prepare cars for rallying, offer engine builds and maintenance and also full support services.

Rob got into rallying as it combined his love of cars and speed and currently rallies his Mk2 Escort in Ireland. The rallies are organised by the Motor Sports Association (MSA), please visit https://www.msauk.org for more information about the rallies and other events and services that they have.
 Rob is currently in the top 15 but is pushing to be in the top 10. Rob has just finished building his new Mk 2 Escort and below are some pictures.

Robs car has 350 BHP and 250 foot pounds of torque, so when it drives it will be fast. I wish Rob the best of luck with your business and the rallies and I thank you for your time.